Style Icon: Gianni Agnelli

Why He’s A Style Icon

Unlike so many moguls of the 20th century, Gianni Agnelli actually cared about the clothes he wore. Although some considered him to be a bit of an eccentric when he wore his wristwatch over his shirt cuff or even his suit sleeve, Gianni Agnelli would simply say he did not have to waste time pulling the fabric back to check the time. At other moments, he wore his tie to one side and loosened the knot for effect. All of this caught people off-guard, but he had an eye for detail. When he wasn’t running Fiat or his family’s other business interests in Italy, he was having bespoke suits made for him. These suits, which remained well cared for during his lifetime, are now being worn by his grandson Lapo Elkann. An eccentric move to say the least, but grandfather Gianni had them made so carefully and with such classic lines that they are still fashionable. Agnelli’s style was often more about his masculine attitude that a man can wear what he wants as long as the pieces are of the highest quality and made by hand.

Dress The Agnelli Way

If you want to dress like an iconoclast, your first step is to dismiss all of the old rules of fashion — just like Gianni Agnelli did when he wore his wristwatch over his sleeve cuff. He also liked to mix his country-sporting attire with his Milanese and Turin business attire. And from time to time, he wore boots with his suits. “Simple enough,” you might think, but it really isn’t. The idea was to combine elements that seemed incongruent, but actually enhanced one another. Thus, if you want to dress like an Italian industrialist, consider a pair of Gucci ankle boots with your blue pinstriped suit. Sure, people will look twice, but that’s the point of fashion — a fact Gianni Agnelli understood better than anyone.